'The Amazing Race': Rob & Sheila talk getting lost and coming in last

The Amazing Race kicked off its 21st cycle on Sunday night, and the 11 teams headed off to Shanghai, China. With two roadblocks to complete as well as several other clues to retrieve in between, it truly was a race against the clock to make it to the pit stop in one of the first 10 positions. Unfortunately for Rob Scheer and Sheila Castle, the engaged (and now married) lumberjacks, the delay they experienced in locating the final clue - as well as their willingness to follow misleading advice from another team - saw them come in last and become the first team to be eliminated from the show.

Rob and Sheila spoke to reporters on Monday about their experience in the competition and the lessons they learned while abroad.

You got lost looking for the woman with the abacus. Did you think you were onto something by going to the Bank of China?

Rob: "We weren't lost! When we read the clue about the abacus, I knew exactly what it was. So we stopped to look on the internet for a tourism type indicator to see if there was anything special at The Bund with an abacus and the only thing we could find was three large banks. One of the guys at the Hilton said that the Bank of China was where we wanted to go, so there we went. We then spent 40 minutes looking for a woman with an abacus at the Bank of China - which everybody, whether they were British or local, supported the idea that there was a woman with an abacus around this bank... It took us 40 minutes to finally say screw the bank and go out to the waterfront and start looking."

How do you feel about having come in last, especially since you were so close to making it?

Sheila: "That was tough because the Chippendales had been on the first plane and it truly came down to a footrace right there at the end. It was really tough .That's the thing about walking away from the race - we were completely committed. We were so ready for all the great challenges and competing in this amazing adventure together. But as we walked away from the race, I think appreciating the country we live in and that we were walking away together and have this amazing relationship and this great life that we get to come home to helped. But we were very disappointed. It hurt!"

Rob: "I was pissed as hell! I was mad. I was really angry. I mean, we should have been there at the end on the last leg and we weren't and the only thing is, I told Sheila we shouldn't trust anybody. That's what ultimately makes me look back and go, 'Boy, what would I have done different?' I would have not in any way trusted anybody and kept to our own game."

Did you have any idea that you were going to arrive last or did you think there were still teams behind you?

Sheila: "We thought there was another team. Will and Gary had told us they were still searching - which wasn't true, they lied to us. They were on their way to the signal tower and tried to deceive us to go towards the tower to look for the woman. We did not know on that footrace when we were so close and they passed us and came in ahead of us - we didn't know until we got to the mat that we were the last to arrive."

Rob: "There was nothing we could have done. We got the clue, got out our map, asked people about the signal tower and saw it on the map. We started running and we ran as hard and fast as we could. It was about a half mile and they passed us in the last 100 yards. You know, those guys, they're young, athletic and they came charging up on us and there they were, running by us. I took Sheila's pack and we ran harder, but there was about 150 yards and they stayed ahead of us. That was it, that was that. We thought Will and Gary were still out there because just 15 minutes earlier they had told us they didn't have a clue and that someone told them and they took off running. It was when we were halfway down there that Sheila said we have to stop and think about this."

Did you learn anything new about one another while in the game?

Rob: "I don't think so - the only thing I would say is that there was a confirmation that I've made a great choice in who my life partner is going to be. Did I know anything? Yes, that I made the right choice."

What's tougher, The Amazing Race or planning a wedding?

Sheila: "For me, it would be The Amazing Race. Rob was our wedding planner and he planned a beautiful wedding at a lodge in Wisconsin and we married August 5. It was a beautiful day and Rob did all of the planning. It was heartbreaking, to be honest, to be the first ones out - it's horrifying. But we get to come back to our beautiful life in an amazing country and we have a partner next to us that we love and we're looking forward to a life together so it's not so bad."

Rob: "The wedding will be a highlight of my life, for sure. But The Amazing Race, you know... as a many-time world champion, losing is not something that I take well and it may have been something that taught me one thing - how to accept defeat with humility and not let it affect who I am and what I do. Being in The Amazing Race makes me more successful. Losing it does not make me less successful."

What's next for the two of you?

Sheila: "We opened a diner theatre last year in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - it's just before the entrance to the national park. The dinner show theatre seats almost 1,000 people and tells the story of the Smokey Mountain National Park."

Rob: "The story is about how they threw the lumberjacks out to make it a park. The lumberjacks were very competitive and they actually used guns to compete to see who would get the land. We tell that story. But you know, my life has been about promoting lumberjack sports and telling the history of the American lumberjack. I've been doing it for 30 years and I'm only halfway done telling the story. We're going to recreate log drives and put them on film, which has never been done before. We're expanding the sport worldwide and we're working on projects like this every day as part of our true life. My life has been like an amazing race and it's going to continue to be like The Amazing Race. We're just thrilled to have had the opportunity to actually do it."